Former Pundit, Candidate & Current Student

Continuing Adventures of a leading #GAPOL

January 26th, 2017

A Week in the Life of a Returning Grad Student

Any chance I get, I love to insert The Beatles or Paul McCartney into the discussion. My two sisters got to see The Beatles at Atlanta stadium in 1965 and I’ve seen Paul McCartney several times over the years culminating with taking my whole extended family to the Paul McCartney concert at Piedmont Park in 2009. It was the last time all my sisters, brother and I were together. The next year, my sister died and four years later, my brother died. So hug the people you love, don’t fight every battle–you don’t know what the future holds. That is the long way around telling you what a week looks like for me now. I’m in grad school because I want to be a better writer, a teacher of college students and a life long learner. I want to help women get elected to office and do real research on topics that matter to the service to my country.

I like the challenge. But I’m also in grad school because after the sudden death of my brother I decided I’m not putting things off anymore. Within reason, I’m doing what I want to do because I don’t know if I have tomorrow.

So what’s the week like now. Most Monday’s, I’m in class. So the day starts off at work in my job as a senate staffer. It’s a Monday, so there are staff meetings, conference calls and general catching up and being certain of the message for the week. I go to class on Monday nights. When I get home on Mondays, I try to spend some time with my husband and no studying.

Tuesdays are work days with meetings with constituents, checking in with the field staff I manage and implementing grassroots policy. After I get home from work, I get dinner ready and then I study til about 10 pm. I’m not a night person. If I have to do extra studying, I get up at 4 or 5 am and get the extra hours in then.

Wednesdays, I have class so I will either be in Atlanta depending on meetings or I will work from home and then leave for class about 5 pm for a 6:50 to 9:50 pm class. No studying after class, it’s past my bedtime.

Thursdays and Fridays, my work days are pretty normal (whatever that means), unless I’m travelling. This is when the studying kicks in. I spend Thursday and Friday nights studying or writing for class and then most Saturdays and Sundays, too. My big goals for this weekend are to get the reading for Monday done, write my first paper for U. S. Presidency and then really organize my schedule for the rest of the semester.

In between all that, I call my kids, see my grandkids and deal with life.

I am loving my life right now. I am a stress magnet and I embrace that.